Cell Standby Battery Drain

[plonko]

Hello Everyone,

So I've spent the past few days with the Marquee and I'm growing less enamored with it. I did the typical battery tweaks but the phone is still barely able to make 12-15 hours before the battery gives up the ghost.

Surprisingly, the 700 nit display isn't the power hog (it actually seems to be sipping power). It's cell standby. Drilling down a level, it's showing 30% Time without Signal. Given that I have an Airave at home, I cannot imagine it's actually a signal problem.

Seems like this is a common problem on Sprint's Android offerings, but I've never had this problem on a GSM phone, so I'm hesitant to simply ascribe it to the TwoS bug in Android. I downloaded "Network" and determined it's properly configured to only seek out CDMA towers instead of trying to ping WCDMA/GSM towers first.

Anybody have similar experiences recommendations how I can fix?

I appreciate the help.

 

[farfromuman]

The strange thing is that the CDMA TWS bug was only in Froyo and supposedly fixed in GB (it was gone when I upgraded to GB on my Optimus S). The old solution was to flip Airplane mode at start up to clear it up but even when doing it on this phone I still end up with 15-35% TWS and I have not seen it loose signal yet. This phone has a ~10dBm reception deficit when compared to my old Optimus S so that will definitely use up a lot more battery basically doing nothing. From my experience some CDMA iterations (HTC Hero for example) of GSM phones are not very elegantly designed when it comes to the radio efficiency, they seem like quick hacks that manufacturers slap together to make the CDMA versions on the cheap without much testing. Then a single carrier in the world uses this handset and it is inconsequential how badly it performs. Imagine if the LG Black performed on this level it would be a global failure.

 

[cb526]

I've had the phone for two days now and though I love EVERYTHING else about the unit, this seems to be an issue for me as well and I'm not sure that it's one that I'll be able to see past.

It's ridiculous. I've installed juiceDefender Ultimate but I don't think that'll have any impact on the standby issue, it'll just cause the phone to save power elsewhere.

I'm not going to be able to keep this phone if I can't figure out a fix for this. I really want to, though.

 

[dishe]

Seems to be a radio bug, I think.

LG could likely release a firmware update to fix it.
Meanwhile, with regular use and wifi at home and work, it easily seems to last 18 hours for me (no tweaks).

 

[nosajsam]

Meanwhile, with regular use and wifi at home and work, it easily seems to last 18 hours for me (no tweaks).

+1

I am also able to get 18 hours with steady use.

In doing some research, this seems to be on par with the average battery life of OB users as well.

Dishe, is correct in that there is most likely a radio bug that can be fixed with an update, but even with a fix, I am not sure how much of an significant impact it will have on the overall battery life of the Marquee.

btw, I notice on mine the 1st 30% of the battery drops quickly but then from 70%-30% it slows down considerably, the last 30% goes about as quick as the 1st.

When I had my TP2, I developed a habit of keeping a charger w/ me everywhere I go. Although I am sure there are those out there who are, I found that I am hardly ever 15-18 hours away from some sort of a power source.

I've come to the conclusion that the battery life is pretty fair for
1) a phone that has the features I want
2) keeps me in the $40 Sero plan range

I'm not going to be able to keep this phone if I can't figure out a fix for this. I really want to, though.

I completely understand if you end up not keeping the phone but I think if you hang in there & stick with it, sooner than later more fixes, tweaks, updates & overall improvements will come our way. The Marquee was off to a VERY slow start but there are a lot more people who have this phone now....not just more people but the RIGHT people (like Dishe, tcaudill01 & others like yourself) who want to improve this device (& have the technical knowledge to do so).

I could be wrong here but I think that by the 1st of the year, if not soon after we might see some major improvements & developments.

 

[dishe]

I've tinkered around with enough Android devices to know that such a percentage of battery attributed to cell signal loss is not normal.

I do think battery life can (will?) be improved with an update though.

If nothing else, the Marquee has Carrier IQ baked into the ROM which has been known to reduce battery life among other things. Even if LG fails to release a Radio update, I think battery life will improve once we can start cooking up custom roms. (or a class action suit forces carrierIQ to have a removal option- whatever happens first)

 

[cb526]

Well, interestingly enough, it seems (and this probably isn't shocking) to be wildly dependent on location.

Yesterday, while at my in-laws, I had around 35% time without signal.

Today, at home, where I apparently have a strong signal, I'm at 3% TWoS.

I will say that I think that JuiceDefender Ultimate likely makes a REALLY big difference. I'm going to shut it down tomorrow in identical location circumstances to see how drastic the difference is.

 

[cb526]

I'm likely going to hang on to the phone and suffer though minor inconveniences (using airplane mode in places where I spend a great deal of time that have terrible signal) as compared to all other options save for the HTC Arrive on SERO-P, this phone is head and shoulders above the rest.

Honestly, it's a REALLY nice phone. The screen is beautiful. It's thin. It's very snappy while using GoLauncher. It's uber-light. It was free. It's $40 a month.

I'll take a minus (even a somewhat considerable one like this) to go along with all of those pluses.

 

[AkumaX]

I'm likely going to hang on to the phone and suffer though minor inconveniences (using airplane mode in places where I spend a great deal of time that have terrible signal) as compared to all other options save for the HTC Arrive on SERO-P, this phone is head and shoulders above the rest.

Honestly, it's a REALLY nice phone. The screen is beautiful. It's thin. It's very snappy while using GoLauncher. It's uber-light. It was free. It's $40 a month.

I'll take a minus (even a somewhat considerable one like this) to go along with all of those pluses.

i recently moved from LauncherPro to Go Launcher, it may not be as smooth, but LP started to randomly crash, and GoL's transitions are cool